Speed-changing and transmission gearing.



D. P. COLLINS.

SPEED CHANGING AND TRANSMISSION GEARING.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 26, 1909.

Patented Dec. 13, 1910.

N RN 6 ON b m \N G u a FAQ 3 h Ww u w witmeweok D. P. COLLINS.

SPEED CHANGING AND TRANSMISSION GBARING.

0 m m g m m muv w W n m W m u M w m UNITED STATES OFFICE.

D ENNIS P. COLLINS, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR T0 COLLINS AXLEAND MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 13, 1910.

Application filed June 25, 1909. Serial No. 504,336.

To all whom it may concern:

' Be it known that I, DENNIS P. COLLINS,'

of Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Speed- Chan ing andTransmission Gearing; and I do iereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appcrtains to make and use thesame.

My invention relates to an improvement in speed changin and transmissiongearing, designed particu arly for use on automobiles, the object beingto materially decrease the cost by reducing the number of parts, and toincrease the efficiency by reducing friction.

A further object is to provide a selective type transmission gearing inwhich all the gears are always in mesh whether idle or working, and inwhich the operation of the gears is controlled by clutches connected upto an operating lever.

With these and other ends in view my invention consists in the parts andcombinations of parts as will be more fully de scribed and pointed outin the claims.

- In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a view of the gearing insection and the rear axle in elevation; Fig. 2 is a view in perspectiveof asection of the sleeve, Figs.

' 3 and 41 are views in perspective of the clutches, and Figs. 0 and 6are views of the lever mechanism for actuating the clutch.

1 represents the rear axle sleeve which carries the driven gears of theseries. This sleeve is mounted in the cast steel frame 2 which latter isclosed under the gears and lindrical and form bearings for the several'driven gears. V

Loosely mounted on the cylindrical portion of sleeve 1, is the reversegear 5, the hub 6 of which is mounted and supported in the rollerbearing 7, and loosely mounted on ,the cylindrical section of the axle1, is the third or fast speed gear 8.

The inner or adjacent faces of the hubs 6 and 9 of the gears 5 and 8 areprovided with clutch teeth 10 and 11, with which the teeth or members 12of the sliding clutch 4 mesh. This clutch 1 has an angular boreconforming in shape and size to the angular portion of the sleeve, andis adapted to slide thereon so as to engage either clutch teeth 10 or11, or be moved to a neutral position between the two gears. In thedrawing, the clutch *1 is shown in its neutral position, and theconstruction is such that it cannot engage the clutch teeth of bothdriven gears 5 and 8 at the same time, and when in such neutral positionboth gears 5 and 8 run loosely on thc'sleeve when the drive shaft isrotating. The clutch 4 is provided with a peripheral groove 14 in whichthe yoke 15 of its actuating lever rests. When this yoke is shifted bythe actuating lever, clutch 4 will be shifted laterally, thus lockingone of the wheels 5-8 to the sleeve 1.

Loosely mounted on the cylindrical portion of sleeve 1, is the secondspeed driven gear 16, andloosely embracing the cylindrical hub 17 of thegear clutch 3 is the hub of the first or slow speed gear 19. The hubs 20and 21 of the speed gears 16 and 19, are

. provided at their adjacent ends with clutch teeth 22 and 23, whichlatter are engaged by the teeth of clutch 3. This clutch, as before exlained, is integral with or fixed to the cy indrical hub 17, whichlatter is mounted on the sleeve 1, and forms the bearing for the slowspeed gear 19. The bore of the hub 17 from the outer side of clutch 3 tothe point 24, is square and conforms to the squared section of sleeve 1,while the remaining portion of said bore is cylindrical and conforms inshape and size to the cylindrical portion of the sleeve. The outer endof the hub 17 is provided with a groove engaged by the yoke 25, havingmeans for its connection to the operating ever.

Clutch 3 is constructed so that it may rest. in a neutral positionbetween ar'mlar clutch members 22 and 23 without engaging either, andwhen so placed, as in Fig. 1, both gears 16 and 1%) run loosely on theirrespective bearings. By shifting the clutch 3 toward the second speedgear 16, the latter will be locked to the sleeve through the medium ofthe clutch. and by moving the clutch toward the slow speed gear 19, gear16 will be disconnected from the axle, and by continuing the movement tothe left, the slow speed gear 19 will be clutched up to the axle.

The clutch hub 17 and the clutchwheel 12 are to be actuated by a singlelever, with connections so arranged that, only one clutch can beactuated at a time, hence it will be impossible to clutch up one drivengear to the sleeve while another is locked thereto.

The reverse gear 5 and the slow speed gear 19 are of the same size; thesecond speed gear 16 is of less diameter than gear 19, and the first orfast speed gear 8 is smaller than gear 16. These gears are all nestedclosely on the axle, and anti-friction balls 26 are arranged in raceways27 formed in the adjacent faces of the several gears and between gear 19and its bearing in frame 2. By this means the inner gears are supportedby the outer gears and the last or outer gear .of the set is similarlysupported by balls carried by a raceway in the gear casing. The fastspeed gear'8 is also suported on its inner face by the antifrictionballs 27 which are carried by the circular abutment 27 carried bythecasing 2.

28 is the driving shaft mounted at its rear end in antifriction bearings28 carriedby frame 1 having threefixed bevel pinions 29,

30 and 31. The pinion 31 meshes with the reverse gear 5 and with thethird or slow speed gear19, the pinion 30 with the second speedgear 16and the pinion 29 with the first or fast speed gear 8. It will thereforebe seen that each speed gear and the reverse gear, is directly driven,and all rotate when the driving shaft 28 is rotating.

The lever mechanism for actuating the clutches, is shown in Figs. 5 and6 and consists of a single controlling lever 32 secured to a sleeve 33mounted to slide on the shaft 34 fixed tothe frame of car. This leverpasses through the selective quadrant fastened'to the frame of the car,and adapted to regulate the length of thethrow of lever 32. By movinglever 32 to the right or left, it will move the sleeve endwise and passfrom its neutral position as shown,-into one of the longer slots, and isthen in a position where it. can be moved forwardly or'rearwardly tothrow in or disconnect one of the clutches. The sleeve 33 carries twofixed collars 35, one of which carries a finger 36 and the other afinger 36 resting in the plane .of the slots 37 and 37 in pitmen'38 and38. These pitmen are so supported that they remain in the position inwhich they are left by.the fingers 36 and 36 so that when the latter aremoved laterally by the lever 32, they will move into their respectiveslot-s 3737 in pitmen 3838.

As shown in Figs. 5 and, 6 the fingers 36 and 36 are in a neutralposition, and in the position they occu y when lever 32is in itsneutral-position. ily now moving lever 32 to one side, say to the rightit will shift {sleeve 33 to the right and carry finger 36 into slot 37in pitmen 38. By now throwing the lever 32 either forward or backward itwill move the finger 36 backward or forward, and as the latter is now inengagement with the pitman 38 it will move it in a correspondingdirection. The movement of the pitnian. will be transmitted through bellcrank lever 39 and link 40 to the yoke 15 which actuates clutch 4. Byshifting lever 32 to the left,.finger 36 will be disengaged from pit-man38, and by a further'movement to the left finger 36 will engage pitman38 and through pitman 38*, bell crank 39 and link 40*, shift the yoke 25of clutch 3.

ate either clutch until the operating mechanism of the other clutch hasbeen disconnected from the actuating lever 32.

I Sleeve 1 is hollow for the passage of the left rear wheel axle 41,which latter passes through the sleeve 1, andsaid sleeve is provided atits right hand end with an integral at its ends in the antifrictionbearings 65 and 7 carried by. the frame 1, and the axle 41 is supportedthroughout its length by the sleeve 1 and projects at its end adjacentto flange 42, beyond the said flange for the at- .tachment of the bevelpinion 43, which meshes with the pinions 44 mounted on bearings 45carried by the frame 46 rigidly bolted to the flange 42, and mounted atits outer end in--the bearing 47 carried by the frame or casing 1. Thetwo gears 44 mesh with the bevel gear 48 rigidly secured to the righthand end 41 of the rear axle.

From the foregoing it will be seen that motion is transmitted from thesleeve 1 to the sectional rear axle 41? and 41 through the differentialgearing 43, 44 and48, which latter operates in the usual and well knownmanner; The outer sections 41 of the axle. are connected to the sections41 and 41 re= s ectively by the flexible or universal coup ings 49 whichlatter permit of the necessary freedom of 'movement of the severalparts, without, binding or unduly straining any of the parts of theaxle, or the gearing couplled up to the same. These portions 41 of t eaxle are also supported in bearings in the casing or frame 2, andcarry-the friction drums 50 andthe drive wheels 51.

By locating the change speed gears directly on the sleeve 1, and bydirectly connecting the driving gears thereto,-I simplify theconstruction, reduce the-number of parts, considerably decrease theweight, and cheapen the cost of manufacture.

It is evident that many slight changes might be resorted to in therelative arrangement of parts shown and described without departing fromthe spirit, and scope of my invention; hence I would have it understoodthat I do not wish to confine myself to the By this arrangement it isimpossible to actuflange 42. The sleeve is firmly supported exactconstruction and arrangement of parts shown and described, but,

Having fully described my invention what I claim as ne and desire tosecure by Letters-Patent, is l 1. The combination with a sleeve andvariable speed and reverse gears loosely mounted thereon, of a drivingshaft, a fixed gear thereon meshing directly with the slow speed andreverse gears on the sleeve, and a fixed gear for each of the otherspeed gears, a clutch for locking either the fast speed or reverse gearto the sleeve, and a second clutch for locking either of the other speedgears to the sleeve.

2. The combination with a sleeve having cylindrical sections,intermediate angular sections, and a cylindrical section intermediatethe angular sections, and variable speed and reverse gears looselymounted on the cylindrical portions of the sleeve, of a driving shaft, afixed gear thereon meshing directly with the slow speed and reverse gearwheels, and a fixed gear for each of the other speed gears. a clutchslidingly mounted on an angular section of the sleeve for locking eitherthe fast speed or reverse gear to the sleeve, and a second clutch alsomounted on an angular section of the sleeve for locking either of theother speed gears to the sleeve.

3. The combination with an axle driving sleeve and variable speed andreverse gears loosely mounted thereon, of a drive shaft geared directlyto each of said speed and reverse gears, and clutches slidingly mountedon the sleeve, one for locking the fast speed or reverse gear to thesleeve, and the other for locking either of the other speed gears to thesleeve.

4. The combination with an axle driving sleeve, variable speed andreverse gears loosely mounted thereon, and anti-friction supportingmeans for the speed gears intermediate the latter, ofa drive shaft, afixed gear thereon meshing directly with the fast and reverse speedgears, and a fixed gear for each of the other speed gears, andclutch'e's for locking the speed and reverse gears to the sleeve.

5. The combination with variable speed and reverse gears, a drivenmember on which said gears are mounted, two clutches for locking saidgears to said driven member, and a rod for actuating each clutch, of alongitudinally sliding and rotary sleeve hav- 1 ing an engaging memberfor each clutch aetuating rod, and a lever fixed to said'sleeve andadapted to be moved laterally for moving one of said engaging membersinto or out of engagement with its respective clutch actuating rod, andalso adapted to be moved forwardly or backwardly, whereby the engagingmember in engagement with its clutch actuating rod, will shift thelatter and actuate the clutch.

6. The combination with a sleeve, variable speed and reverse gearsthereon, and two clutches for locking said gears to the sleeve, of alongitudinally sliding and rotary sleeve, a lever connected thereto andadapted to be moved laterally and forwardly and backwardly, a lever foreach clutch, and means connecting the sliding and rotary sleeve with thetwo clutch levers, whereby either lever may be connected to said sleeve,the parts being so arranged that the sleeve will be disconnected fromone clutch lever before it can be connected to the other.

7. The combination with a plurality of transmission gears, a member tobe driven thereby, and a plurality of clutches for locking said gears tosaid member, of a rod for each clutch, a sliding and rocking shaft, anengaging member on said shaft for each rod, the said engaging membersbeing so located with relation to their respective rods, that both rodscannot be coupled to their engag-' ing members at the same time, andmeans for rocking and moving said shaft endwise.

8. The combination with transmission gears and a plurality of clutches,of a rod for each clutch, each rod having a slot near its outer end, asliding and rocking shaft having a finger for each slot, the saidfingers on the shaft being so located with relation to the slots thatone finger must leave its slot before the other can enter its slot, andmeans for sliding and rocking the shaft.

9. The combination of a frame, a sleeve mounted in anti-frictionhearings on said frame, driven gears loose on said sleeves, andanti-friction bearings intermediate the said driven gears and betweenthe frame and the outer gears of the series.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification in the presenceof two subscribing witnesses.

DENNIS P. COLLINS. lVitnesses A. W. BRIGHT, I R. L. Fnneoson.

